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OTTAWA—Travellers who are prescribed marijuana for medical reasons have fewer hurdles to clear at airport screening points due to a change in policy by the agency responsible for security.

The Canadian Air Transportation Security Authority confirmed on Thursday that its airport screeners are no longer calling police when a passenger presents a prescription and is carrying 150 grams or less.

Previously screeners would call police when they found marijuana, even if a passenger had a prescription from a doctor. “It added time to the screening process, to wait for the police officer to arrive and to verify documentation and in most cases the documentation was valid,” Mathieu Larocque, a spokesperson for CATSA, said. (Dreamstime)

“We decided to change that policy because of the exponential growth in the number of passengers travelling legitimately with medical marijuana,” said Mathieu Larocque, a spokesperson for CATSA.

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